Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Joseph Bayly in "Psalms of My Life," which appeared in Christianity Today magazine, shares this excellent perspective on Easter (www.christianitytoday.com; accessed on 04/18/2011):

Let's celebrate Easter with the rite of laughter. Christ died and rose and lives.Laugh like a woman who holds her first baby. Our enemy death will soon be destroyed.Laugh like a man who finds he doesn't have cancer, or he does but now there's a cure. Christ opened wide the door to heaven.Laugh like children at Disneyland's gates. This world is owned by God, and he'll return to rule.Laugh like a man who walks away uninjured from a wreck in which his car was totaled.Laugh as if all the people in the whole world were invited to a picnic and then invite them.

Take time today to think about what Christ accomplished on the cross and how He as defeated death. We have nothing to fear because our Lord has conquered our greatest foe!

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Once upon a time, the animals decided they should do something meaningful to meet the problems of the new world. So they organized a school.

They adopted an activity curriculum on running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming; in fact, better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying, and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to drop swimming and stay after school to practice running. This caused his web feet to be badly worn, so that he was only average in swimming. But average was quite acceptable, so nobody worried about that – except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of his class in running, but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles because of so much make-up work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he encountered constant frustration in flying class because his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He developed “charlie horses” from overexertion, and so only got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem student from the beginning and was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist. In climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree but he insisted on using his own way to get there. The running coach accused him of not even trying. After swimming practice, his feathers were so wet, he couldn't fly for hours, so the duck got better grades for flying than the eagle did.

A duck is a duck – and only a duck. It is built to swim, not to run or climb. A squirrel is a squirrel – and only that. To move it out of its forte, climbing, and then expect it to swim or fly will drive a squirrel mad. Eagles are beautiful creatures in the air but not in a foot race.

The moral of the story is simple. Each creature has its own abilities at which it will naturally excel, unless of course, it is expected to do something for which it wasn't designed. When that happens, frustration, discouragement, and guilt bring overall mediocrity or sometimes even complete defeat.

What is true of creatures in the forest is true of Christians in the family. God has not made us all the same. He never intended to. He planned and designed the differences, unique capabilities, and variations in the Body. God has placed you in His family and given you a set of gifts that makes you unique. Nobody else is like you and when you operate in your giftedness, you will excel, the whole church will benefit, and you will experience incredible satisfaction.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Life can be compared to an embroidered tapestry. At first glance there is no discernible pattern. One only sees a jumble of colors, threads, and stitches. We see our lives in the same way at times. Confusion! Doubt! Pain! Suffering! There seems to be no apparent reason why we face the seasons of our lives. However, when the weaver completes his needlepoint, he turns the tapestry over and reveals a beautiful pattern. When we see life from God’s perspective (“above the sun”) we will understand that God is the Weaver who is threading all the seasons of your life together to form a beautiful tapestry of his handiwork which will bring Him glory and praise. Corrie ten Boom writes, "This is how God views your life and someday we will have the privilege of seeing it from His point of view."

My life is but a weaving Betwixt my God and me, I do not choose the colors He worketh steadily. Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow, And I in foolish pride Forget He sees the upper And I, the underside. Not till the loom is silent And the shuttles cease to fly Will God unfold the pattern And explain the reason why. For the dark threads are as needful In the Weaver's skillful hand As the threads of gold and silver In a pattern He has planned Grant Colfax Tullar or Benjamin Malachi Franklin (poem attributed to either author)